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^39 



PAPEE UPON THE OEIGIN 



OF THE 



Itead tlie -ytli of IMay, 185'7, 



BEFORK THE 



pi 



f 



By GEO. LYNN-LACHLAN DAYIS, 

OF BALTIMORE. 



jfVoiy published, by permission of the President of the Sooieti/, 
with only a few slig-ht alterations. 




PuBLiSHEBS, Booksellers, Printers, and Stationers, 
Marble Building, 182 Baltimore street. 

1860. 



QlTie deszTe to do jiustzGe to cun adopted 
son of JVLcbTylcund, {izozv a distingiLisTied 
o-ffioeT of the FedeTcvl fTauy,) and tJie 
znter-est so stTongly n^anfested hy all 
classes of jlrrbeTioans in. eveTy tTuing 
-relating to one of tJie old and great 
Empires of flsia, zvill he some ezcoiMse, 
zt zs hoped, for the -puuhlioation, at this 
time, of the folloioing (Paper. 

Baltimore, June SO, 1^60. 



o R I G I isr 



JAPAN EXPEDITION. 



To the Maryland Historical Society I owe an 
apology for the character of the topic I have selected. 
That doubts should exist respecting subjects connected 
with the twilight of our earliest history — that the exploits 
of King Arthur, or the piratical deeds of Captain Ingle, 
should still involve a variety of open questions — is surely 
a matter of no surprise. But it saddens us to think, a 
discussion could arise upon a point which may be easily 
traced, with the aid of documents, to so recent a period ] 
and which cannot, as an excuse for misapprehension, plead 
even the simple fact, that there is the least political or 
religious prejudice in any way mingled with it. It may 
also mortify us to know, how readily the authority of the 
Government may be invoked in the propagation of error — 
to say nothing of the distinguished man, whose name is 
associated with an act of such gross historical injustice. 
My meaning will be apparent upon the reading of a para- 
graph from the huge volume now lying before me, and 



6 Origin of the Japan Expedition. 

entitled "Narrative of the Expedition of an American 
Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, performed in the 
years 1852, 1853, and 1854, under the command of Com- 
modore M. C. Perry, United States Navy, by order of the 
Government of the United States, compiled from the ori- 
ginal notes and journals of Commodore Perry and his 
officers, at his request and under his supervision, by 
Francis L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D., with numerous illustrations. 
Published by order of the Congress of the United States." 
"Commodore Perry," according to this Narrative, "after 
careful examination, believed that, under all the circum- 
stances, there was a favorable opportunity for our country 
to establish commercial relations with Japan, and avowed 
his belief to several of his brother officers, as well as to 
some of the dignitaries of the Government, and eminent 
citizens, long before the subject was discussed publicly, and 
the expedition resolved upon. There were doubtless oth- 
ers (and among them probably some of high station in the 
Government) whose minds had been led to a similar con- 
clusion, and who, like Commodore Perry, anticipated pop- 
ular opinion on the subject of an expedition. Indeed, 
instructions had been sent out to Commodore Aulick, then 
on the East India Station, directing him to proceed to 
Japan ; and the State Department, then under the charge of 
Mr. Webster, had sought information concerning Japan 
from the officer who commanded the Preble on her visit, 
Commodore Glynn, who very strongly felt and urged the 
importance of establishing, if possible, a friendly commu- 
nication between that kingdom and our own country. We 
believe, however, Ave do no wrong to any one when we say, 



Origin of the Japan Expedition. 7 

that the thought of making an immediate effort was urged 
bj Commodore Perry ; and, at all events, on the recall of 
Commodore Aulick, he proposed to the Government of the 
United States the Expedition which was finalhT" sent. The 
proposition was favorably received ; and it was determined 
that a squadron should be dispatched, under his command, 
on the peaceful mission of endeavoring to open a friendl}^ 
commercial intercourse with the Japanese." See page 77. 
Such, I regret to add, is a specimen of the loose, slip-shod 
method of the Reverend narrator. Will it be believed that 
the Expedition was actually projected eighteen months 
before the sailing of Commodore Perry; that a proposal 
was submitted to the Government, by Commodore John H. 
Aulick, as early as the 9th of May, 1851 ; that the Expedi- 
tion was then set on foot ; that, on the day afterwards, a 
letter' was addressed by the President to the Emperor of 
Japan; that, on the 30th of the same month, a commission 
was given to Commodore Aulick to make a treaty with the 
Emperor; and that this Expedition was in the East under 
the command of Commodore Aulick, at the very time to 
which the preceding paragraph of the Rev. Dr. Hawks 
refers? Yet there is ample evidence in support of each of 
these propositions. The first paper I will read developes 
the ground-work of the design ; and clearly proves, that 
while Mr. Webster promptly approved of the project, the 
credit of originating this far-famed Expedition is due to 
Commodore Aulick. It is a letter from the pen of the 
great statesman, at that time the Secretary of State, to Mr. 
Graham, the Secretary of the Navy, written in the author's 
very best style, and dated on the 9th of May, 1851. 



8 Origin of the Japan Expedition. 

Department of State, 

Washington, May 9th, 1851. 

Honorable Wm. A. Geaham, 

Secretary of the Navy : 

Sir: — You will doubtless have seen in the public jour- 
nals, tbat a number of Japanese were sometime since picked 
up at sea, six hundred miles from the Japanese Islands, by 
the barque Auckland, Captain Jennings, by whom they 
had been treated very kindly, brought into the port of San 
Francisco, and subsequently placed on board the revenue 
cutter Polk, to await arrangements for their return to their 
native country. 

Captain Aulick has suggested to me, and I cheerfully 
concur in his opinion, that this incident may afford a favor- 
able opportunity for opening commercial relations with the 
Empire of Japan, or at least of placing our intercourse with 
that Island upon a more easy footing. 

Under these circumstances, I have the honor to inquire, 
whether there is any small national vessel on the Western 
coast of the United States, that could, without inconve- 
nience to the public service, be ordered to take these unfor- 
tunate men on board at San Francisco, and proceed with 
them to Hong-Kong ? Commodore Aulick is charged with 
the delivery of a letter from the President of the United 
States to the Emperor of Japan. And if these Japanese 
mariners can be thus forwarded to Hong-Kong, there to 
await the arrival of the Commodore, he could then take 
them on board of one of these vessels under his command, 
and return them to their native land. Accompanied by an 
imposing naval force, as he probably would be on this 



Origin" of the Japan Expedition. 9 

service, and with the kindly disposition awakened in the 
bosom of the Emperor towards this Grovernment, b}^ the act 
of restoring these unfortunates to their homes, the occasion, 
it is believed, would be most auspicious for the accomplish- 
ment of the more important objects of Commodore Aulick's 
mission. 

I am, si]', respectfuU}^, 

Your obedient servant, 

Daniel Webster. 

The Japanese mariners were subsequently sent to the 
East, in conformity with the suggestion contained in the 
preceding letter. But let me here add another very inter- 
esting epistle signed by the President, but written (we may 
presume) by the same illustrious Secretary of State: — 

Millard Fillmore, 

President of the United States of America, 

To His Imperial Majesty^ the Emperor of Japan : 

Great and Good Friend : — I send you this letter by an 
envoy of my own appointment, an officer of high rank in 
his country, who is no missionary of religion. He goes, by 
my command, to bear to you my greeting and good wishes, 
and to promote friendship and commerce between the two 
countries. 

You know that the United States of America now extend 
from sea to sea; that the great countries of Oregon and 
California are parts of the United States ; and that from 
these countries, which are rich in gold and silver and 



10 Origin of the Japan Expedition. 

precious stones, our steamers can reacli the shores of your 
happy land in less than twenty days. 

Many of our ships will now pass in every year, and 
some perhaps in every week, between California and China; 
these ships must pass along the coast of your Empire ; 
storms and winds may cause them to be wrecked on your 
shores, — and we ask and expect, from your friendship and 
your greatness, kindness for our men, and protection for 
our property. We wish that our people may be permitted 
to trade with your people ; but we shall not authorize them 
to break any laws of your Empire. Ou.r object is friendly 
commercial intercourse, and nothing more. You have 
many productions which we should be glad to buy ; and 
we have productions which might suit your people. 

Your Empire has a great abundance of coal ; this is an 
article which our steamships, in going from California to 
China, must use. They would be glad that a harbor in 
your Empire should be appointed to which coal might be 
brought, and where they might always be able to purchase it. 

In many other respects, commerce between your Empire 
and our country would be useful to both. Let us consider 
well what new interests arise from the recent events which 
have brought our two countries so near together, and what 
purposes of friendship, amity and intercourse they ought 
to inspire into the breasts of those who govern both coun- 
tries. Farewell. 

Given under my hand and seal, at the City of Wash- 
[l. s.] ington, the 10th day of May, 1851, and of the Inde- 
pendence of the United States the seventy-fifth. 

Millard Fillmore. 
By the President: Daniel Webster, Sec'y of State. 



Origin of the Japan Expedition. 11 

On the SOtli of the same month is dated the commission 
to Commodore Aiilick, (a copy of which will be filed with 
this Paper in the Archives of our Society,) clothing him 
with the full power to negotiate and sign a treaty of friend- 
ship, commerce and navigation betAveen the two countries. 

The next document (which also I will beg leave to file) 
is a copy of the instructions to our newly appointed envoy, 
dated about ten days later than the commission. It alludes 
in eloquent terms to the approach, of the moment when the 
" last link" in the great " chain of oceanic steam naviga- 
tion" shall be formed ; describes the manner in which the 
poor shipwrecked mariners shall be delivered at Jeddo, the 
capital of the Japanese Empire; specifies a number of 
objects as desirable and proper articles for the proposed 
treaty ; and recommends the propriety of securing a period 
of three years "for the exchange of ratifications." 

Notwithstanding the gigantic proportions and vast pre- 
tensions of the Narrative written by Dr. Hawks, it will be 
observed that not one of the above named docu.ments is 
mentioned or even quoted in that work. Commodore 
Aulick is entirely ignored as the originator of the Expedi- 
tion ; and the only reference to him in this connection, is 
the one which states that he was the commanding officer of 
the East India squadron, and that he had been ordered "to 
proceed to Japan." To make the injustice of this grave 
omission on the part of the Eeverend narrator the more 
apparent, and to show what little connexion Commodore 
Perry really had with the origin of this Expedition, it is 
only necessary to add, that Commodore Aulick had sailed 
to the East, with the full expectation of carrying out the 



12 Oeigin of the Japan Expedition. 

design, and executing the noble purposes of the mission, 
when he was suddenly arrested by a hand behind him — by 
the powerful hand of Secretary Graham — and soon after- 
wards succeeded in the command of the squadron by Com- 
modore Perry, the officer who subsequently became so 
conspicuously connected with the history of the Expe- 
dition. 

It is not good for us to make a charge without the exhi- 
bition of proof; and as it is no part of my purpose, in this 
Paper, to go beyond the origin of the Expedition, I will not 
accuse Mr. Graham of any inju.stice in the recall of Com- 
modore Aulick, at the moment when this veteran in the 
sea-service of his country was upon the eve of reaping so 
rich a reward, and of enjoying so high an honor. But to 
rebut any presumption which may arise against the origi- 
nator of this Expedition, from the extraordinary order of 
Mr. Graham, Secretary of the Navy, it is but due to Com- 
modore Aulick for me to say, that Mr. Dobbin (successor to 
Mr. Kennedy in the of&ce vacated by Mr. Graham's resig- 
nation) did most distinctly state he was fully satisfied with 
the explanation submitted by this officer, of everything 
relating to the aspersions which had been cast upon him ; 
and, notwithstanding the request of Commodore Aulick, 
he refused to order a court of inquiry. 

There are many claimants besides Commodore Perry for 
the honor of originating an Expedition which, all must 
now admit, is destined to exert a powerful influence upon 
the social, commercial and political fortunes of the whole 
world. I do not pretend to say what did or what did not 
pass through the mind of the President or his constitu- 



Origin of the Japan Expedition. 13 

tional advisers, either before or even after the interview of 
Commodore Aiilick with Mr. Webster, on the 9th of May, 
1851 ; nor will I stop to inquire into the date either of this 
or of that particular proposal, or into the exact character 
of the facts and suggestions submitted to the Government, 
upon various occasions, by different distinguished indivi- 
duals. In tracing a point of external history, we must 
look to the record ; and the difference between the case of 
Commodore Aulick and that of all the other claimants, is 
most striking and conclusive. Whatever may have been 
thought of other suggestions, it is certain that the proposal 
submitted by this officer was the one accepted by the Gov- 
ernment. It instantly became a living embodiment, a tan- 
gible and potential reality. It was the express — the openly 
avowed — the direct — the immediate basis of the Expedi- 
tion. And this fact is proved by the documents I have cited 
and read. 

No blame should be cast upon Dr. HaAvks for becoming 
the mere amanuensis of Commodore Perry, or assisting his 
friends in making out a report for the Government. But 
when he goes beyond the journals and legitimate notes of 
Navy officers, and assumes the functions of a historian, he 
comes under a stricter responsibility ; and I hold it to be a 
duty as well as a right to expose his grave delinquencies. 

Commodore Aulick is indeed a native of Virginia, and a 
well tried officer of the Federal Government. But our field 
of labor is not confined to the limits of Maryland. And I 
may mention as an interesting fact, that the Commodore 
did spend a portion of his boyhood within the bosom of 
our own dear State, and entered the Navy of the United 



14 Origin of the Japan Expedition. 

States under the auspices of General Eoger Kelson, a very 
eminent Marylander of that period, and the father of our 
present distinguished townsman, the Honorable John 
Nelson, 

I now beg leave (with this explanatory Paper) to file the 
documents I have cited, as a sacred deposit among the 
Archives of this Society, and a means of counteracting, 
in some degree, the tendency of erroneous statements, put 
forward before the whole country with an air of such 
imposing authority. If I understand the high objects of 
this Society, it is a part of her mission to collect and hand 
down to the future the all-important facts of the present ; 
and to preserve the purity of the fountain, whatever may 
be mingled with the muddy streams which flow in every 
direction around us. 

Geo. Lynn-Lachlan Davis. 



H 222 85 






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